Manitoulin Transport continues steady growth

Manitoulin Transport has made another recent acquisition, the ninth in two years. The company, based in Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island, offers a range of services including expedited less-than-truckload and truckload, trans-border, intermodal, private fleet, guaranteed service, temperature-controlled, dangerous goods and supply chain management.

Manitoulin Transport has added to its
fleet once again, acquiring Smooth Freight Ltd. of Brandon, Manitoba.

Smooth Freight offers scheduled LTL
(less-than-truckload) and TL (truckload) service and storage trailer
rentals to more than 300 rural communities in southern and western
Manitoba from its terminals in Winnipeg and Brandon. Established in
1987, Smooth Freight has more than 200 trailers and 25 trucks
including dry vans, heat/refrigeration, flat deck and tail lift.

This most recent acquisition remains in
line with the company’s acquisition strategy, which started in the
1990s, but has gained speed in the last few years.

Manitoulin has picked up nine companies
since 2011, largely in Western Canada, which has been a particular
area of focus.

“We’re expanding our reach or our
footprint into areas where we weren’t in before,” said Manitoulin
Transport president Don Goodwill. “We already have very thorough
coverage in Ontario, so it makes expansion there in ground
transportation not possible. So we look to expand in areas that we
don’t already have coverage.”

Western Canada is also a valuable area
to get into because of its strong resource-based economy,
particularly in the oil and gas and mining industries, Goodwill said.

Typically when Manitoulin goes into
area, there isn’t a lot of change to the way companies are already
operating.

For the most part, Manitoulin will try
to retain jobs, and there can even be some job creation over time
once activity grows in that area, Goodwill said.

“We also bring to that same customer
base a number of other services that we can provide because
Manitoulin is much more than a less-than-truckload carrier,” he
said.

“We’re also into international
freight forwarding, customs brokerage warehousing and other
activities that those customers in those markets may not have had
access to through their local trucking company,” he added. “So as
we do that, hopefully that would create some more activity and
therefore some more employment.”

In some cases, adding to its fleet
requires the construction of additional terminals to serve its client
base. Goodwill said the company has been building a couple of
terminals a year for the last several years, and another couple are
slated to be built in 2014.

Despite its growth, the company has no
plans to relocate its headquarters from the small Manitoulin Island
community of Gore Bay, with a population of 800 people.

That’s where its founder, Doug Smith,
established the company six decades ago as the grocery wholesaler
Smith's Wholesale (Manitoulin) Limited.

But what will continue is Manitoulin’s
pattern of acquisition—where it makes sense—expanding its
geographic footprint to better serve business in Canada.

“We’re proud to be able to service
as many communities as we can,” Goodwill said. “We service more
points directly with our people and our equipment than any other
single carrier in the country and that’s something we’re very
proud of.”

Update:

Manitoulin Transport will no longer
acquire less-than-load transportation company Vitran, after the
agreement to purchase was terminated. Vitran will now be acquired by
TransForce instead.

In a news release, Vitran said
TransForce offered a “superior” purchase proposal and Manitoulin
had waived its right to match the TransForce proposal.

“Vitran and Manitoulin Transport have
agreed to terminate the Manitoulin agreement concurrent with the
entering into of the TransForce agreement, and the termination fee of
US$4 million payable to Manitoulin Transport is in the process of
being paid by Vitran,” according to the release.